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Nov. 8, 2022 - Health Ranger - Mike Adams
40:56
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo talks with Mike Adams about integrative HEALING...
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All right.
Welcome, folks.
This is Mike Adams, the founder of Brighteon.com, you know, the platform of free speech.
And we have a wonderful guest for you today, someone that you've probably seen in the press, and you probably already consider him to be quite a hero of our medical system.
He is the Surgeon General of the state of Florida, Dr.
Joseph Latipo, and he joins us tonight.
Dr.
Latipo, thank you so much for taking the time this evening.
It's an honor to have you on, sir.
Mike, thanks so much for having me on.
Really happy to be joining you.
Well, you're just an extraordinary individual, and we'd love to learn more about you.
Can you start, since this is the first time that we've spoken, can you start by just giving us a little background about yourself and how you wound up in this position with the state of Florida with Governor DeSantis?
Well, I am a physician.
I went to medical school at Harvard.
I was very lucky to go to medical school there because it was really wonderful.
It is a really wonderful, at least it was when I was there, a wonderful medical school these days.
I think they're unfortunately one of the universities that's Requiring young people to get the booster, but I don't think requiring faculty to, but maybe they're doing that.
Older faculty who, if anyone, if you would recommend some kind of prevention to anyone, you think it would be people who are at higher risk.
But I went to medical school there, and I also did a PhD in a research science field while I was there.
What field was that, by the way?
Health policy.
So I did a PhD in health policy, and I got training in a quantitative track.
So I got training in biostatistics, epidemiology, decision analysis, and health economics.
Okay.
And from there, I did my residency in Boston in internal medicine.
And then I went on to NYU, where I was an assistant professor there doing research and clinical work.
I was there for five years, then went to UCLA, continued doing research and clinical work, mostly research, and took care of patients at the UCLA Westwood Hospital, UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospital in West Los Angeles.
I did very well there, fortunately.
At the time I left, I had four NIH clinical trials, and I was tenured, and I really thought I was going to spend the rest of my days there, because tenure at UCLA is a wonderful thing.
It's a great research university.
But instead, I fortunately got a call from Governor DeSantis' office and now we're here.
I'm at University of Florida now.
I'm a professor here.
Oh, okay.
So it's already fascinating because with your history of studying epidemiology and health economics, you, among all people, must understand the cost savings of education and prevention through just simple interventions that people can pursue if they have information.
Just eating right, for example, not pursuing a sedentary lifestyle.
Is this something that you're making part of your effort in Florida just to bring basic information to people?
It is and you're absolutely you're absolutely right this the stuff is it's fundamental and it's it's interesting because for example I used to have quite a sweet tooth and I still have a sweet tooth a bit but I can't as I've really worked on myself and Cleaned up my diet and also cleaned up my soul with spiritual work.
I'm very sensitive to refined processed sugars now.
So even though I still like some things that are sweet, I actually feel sick when I eat food with refined sugar, just regular sugar.
So I've got to satisfy my sweet tooth with things that are sweetened with honey, or maple syrup, or coconut sugar, things like that.
But that wasn't the case 10 years ago, or even when I was a kid, I'm sure I could eat all the sugar in the world.
So I think you're absolutely right.
And I think people's sensitivity to different things.
I actually also stay away from chocolate and caffeine.
Now, I'm not asking anyone to do any of those things because I know that people can be very attached to those things.
But literally, sometimes as people become more sensitive, substances that they could have had in their bodies It just doesn't resonate anymore.
So, for example, for me, I'm very sensitive to it.
I feel off.
I feel like I'm not myself.
I'm not as connected to myself and my environment if I have things like caffeine or alcohol, even a drop.
It's just I'm more sensitive now.
And not everyone, obviously not everyone is super sensitive, but all that stuff matters.
And I think if people could cut out or significantly diminish one thing, it would be sugar.
Because that, it's like, it really is like poison.
It's a risk factor, not only for obesity, but for cancers and heaven knows what else.
It's actually quite bad for us.
Absolutely.
I think our audience would completely agree with you.
In fact, it's funny because this was the very first thing that turned me on to nutrition decades ago was the book called Sugar Busters.
It was the first book I read about nutrition.
And it was the first time I began to understand there's a link between what you eat and the results you get in your health, which should seem obvious, but back in the 1980s and 90s, that was not obvious.
We were told that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.
It didn't matter what the quality of the calorie was.
That's what we were taught.
I totally hear you.
Could it have been more wrong?
I mean, holy cow.
It's probably the opposite of what's true, you know?
It just goes to show you.
Well, it does.
We're doing audio only, but for the audience, I have to say, I'm able to see kind of a preview of you.
I know you've had a long day, but you are very vibrant.
You're energetic.
Your eyes are enlightened.
Even at this late hour, you clearly are pursuing a very healthy lifestyle.
You have a joyousness about you, by the way.
You really have a joyousness.
I want to acknowledge that.
Thank you, Mike.
Thank you, Mike.
Absolutely.
I think that goes along with your philosophy, which I think is that you, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that what you bring to this position as Surgeon General of Florida is a respect for individual choices about how they wish to pursue their health goals.
Is that right?
Oh, absolutely.
And individual empowerment, too.
That's, it's, Unfortunately, the system as it is, in terms of the leaders at Organizations like the CDC and the FDA and even health officials around the country and Surgeon Generals around the country and certainly the National Surgeon General, it's not really about empowerment, at least not when it really counts.
And we saw that in the last two years, two and a half years, where you have a health condition for which obesity is a major It's really important to me because Human beings have tremendous power and sometimes,
unfortunately, actually quite often, we don't access enough of it.
But that's not impossible to access.
It just takes work and it takes a willingness to pursue a path that will allow someone to access more of their innate genius from God that's locked in their spirit and their soul and their body.
But that people being able to Be their most powerful self, their most powerful version of themselves, and to be able to use all of the power that they have, that they've been granted from God, or as much of it as they can access, to create an environment around them that they want.
I love that.
And obviously, that's not what things have been about.
Things have been about, I'm the boss, and you have to do all these things that I tell you to do.
It's a depressing and downlifting message and we're trying to do the opposite in Florida.
Yeah, I'm really glad you brought that up because the history of health in America, I would say, has involved a lot of efforts on the part of, let's say, the USDA and large agricultural producers through things like what I would consider the outmoded food pyramid from the past decades and so on, to try to get consumers to act in contradiction to their own self-interest.
If your self-interest is to not be obese and to eat in a truly balanced way and to limit your calories, but then there are commercial interests that the USDA may be intertwined with, which is to sell more food, sell more oats, sell more grains, sell more margarine, and that bumps heads with the greater goal of keeping individuals healthy, even if it means fewer calories along the way.
That's one of the observations I've noted.
What are your thoughts on that?
I don't actually it's interesting that you're saying that I don't so my wife actually has she's she's been responsible directly and indirectly for probably for all of my nutritional my nutritional wins so she has a much deeper understanding of both the history like what you're sharing and and even a more intuitive understanding of of how to What
types of foods to consume to be as nutritious as possible and, in fact, to heal different things.
She just has a natural intuition about that.
So I'm not actually as familiar with the history, but I certainly agree that the more history I learn, The more what you're saying is basically consistent with everything, where the objective is not really empowerment or actual health, but rather some balance of, well, there's some health here, How do these different financial interests play a role?
Who's at the table when the decisions are being made?
And how are they managing to make sure that their piece of the pie either gets bigger or doesn't change too much in terms of getting smaller to keep that up?
So that actually sounds Write what you're saying, and frankly, it would be shocking if it were the opposite.
That would be completely inconsistent with most modern history in America.
Well, and so kind of in parallel to that, I'd love your comments on this.
I'm a published food scientist, and I run a food lab, a mass spec lab, and we do elemental analysis and glyphosate analysis, pesticide analysis.
In fact, I co-developed one of the methods, one of the mass spec methods for quantifying glyphosate.
But One of the things that we believe in is that people can only be truly free to explore and express God's purpose for what they're supposed to do in their life.
If they're not in some way intoxicated, it could be lead, it could be Alcohol, you know, it could be an addiction or it could be an actual toxic substance that they are repeatedly exposed to.
And so cleanliness in the diet is even necessary for spiritual pursuit and to contribute to society in a meaningful way.
Now, I understand we're getting pretty deep here, but I feel like I can say this to you.
What are your thoughts on all that?
Oh, I'm with you.
I personally, and I talk about it in my book, because I I'm really happy to be joyous now, but I wasn't.
That's actually new for me.
That's only been a few years old for me.
And I describe it in my book, but I actually, I mean, I was an emotional and spiritual wreck.
And actually, physically, I wasn't all that great.
I was an athlete in college, and I was very physically active.
But even I guess, but even comparing myself how I feel now physically to then, I feel much better now.
I have much less Much, much less aches and pains, just like a 90% reduction.
And for me, it was finally things getting so bad with my relationship with my wife and what I was putting her through, basically, and the kids through, too, that she basically told me that I needed to see To see someone.
And I did, and thank God that I did, because he was a miracle worker.
His name's Christopher Mayher, and he's a former Navy SEAL. And I worked with him.
We did a lot of stuff that I didn't even believe was real.
We did a lot of stuff with Chinese meridian theory and Chinese medicine.
And basically, one of the things I learned is that our bodies store Our stress, our trauma, our agitation, irritation, our anger, like literally the tissues of our body.
And I worked with him and it was painful physically, but I worked with him and I was able to get A lot of that stuff out.
And when that happened, well, I got to experience more joy, like not a little bit more joy, like really pure joy and presence and love and lots of other stuff.
And as that was happening, I found myself becoming more sensitive to things.
And so I was also simultaneously gradually making Dietary changes.
And as that's happened, I mean, it's funny to think that I'm extremely happy that at this point, I'm really sensitive to caffeine.
I'm really sensitive to chocolate and other substances with chemicals in them that activate your nervous system and might be putting you into fight or flight, because most people can't feel that.
But because of the work that I've been fortunate enough to be able to do.
I do feel it, and it's great because it also means that while you're sensitive to that, there's also other things that you're sensitive to that are out there that you wouldn't pick up on, but now you're picking up on.
May I ask you, are you sensitive to the presence of overpowering synthetic fragrances?
Well, I'm not sure how to...
I'm not sensitive in the sense that I get migraines, but I am certainly sensitive in that even the little bit of artificial stuff makes me not happy.
I don't feel good, certainly don't want to eat it, don't want to move out of it, don't want to breathe it.
In my research and experience, high sensitivity goes along with high IQ because you have all of these nervous system connections that your brain is organizing information through the internal sensitivities of your synapses, but then externally you're very sensitive to the world around you.
What I believe is that a lot of people experience an onslaught of sensory overload through salt and sugar, like you said, but also things like MSG or even television blasting them with images of blood and gore and whatever the case may be.
And the brain becomes numbed to the sensitivities of the subtleness of the world around you, which is why going out into nature restores the sensitivity often.
I totally...
That's totally...
I mean, that is absolutely the case.
And it's almost...
It's also sad because people are assaulted by this, say, from media stuff or YouTube videos or whatever.
They're being assaulted by often junk and these frequencies and this energy that's bad for your soul.
But most people, unfortunately, are so desensitized that they're unable to pick up on that.
And so it just keeps happening, and it's sad.
It's sad, but totally, absolutely.
But it's wonderful that you've described this process of really emotional healing along with nutritional healing and resulting in physiological changes because we are holistic beings.
It is mind-body medicine.
But before I forget, let me ask you about your book, please.
I know our readers are going to be interested.
What's the title of your book?
It's called Transcend Fear, a blueprint for mindful leadership in public health.
So that's what it's called.
It's way more than public health, but there's a big public health component.
And is this book available now or is it preprint?
It's available now.
You can pick it up on Amazon or any of the major book retailers.
So it's out there, yeah.
What about, is there an audible version available?
We are going to make one.
It is not yet available in audio format.
Okay.
All right.
But that's coming.
That's great.
And may I ask, who's the publisher of the book?
Skyhorse Publishing.
Great.
Okay.
That's what I thought.
And I was just talking with Tony earlier today because we support Sky Horse authors so frequently because he's willing to publish such a vast range of topics.
But I love the message, transcend fear, because it was fear that has been the control mechanism To take away the rationality and the response of the public to things that we've faced in recent years.
With too much fear, there's not enough time to consider risks versus rewards.
And you know from your study, epidemiology, health economics, you have to look at both sides.
What's the possible upside or downside in these decisions?
You can't just panic and just do whatever you're told.
Yeah, now that is, of course, exactly...
What happened?
Fear was used, unfortunately, quite effectively.
We've talked about some things that are sad, and that one always makes me sad to think about that, unfortunately, people were specifically You know, a lot of state health officials, a lot of doctors, certainly Dr.
Fauci, Dr.
Walensky, and federal leadership really leveraged like crazy fear and mostly as an instrument for control in terms of coercing different Behaviors, whether related to masks or related to staying at home, things that are not healthy for people, things that are not natural for people to do.
And then, of course, the vaccine mandates as just another sort of legitimizing them, using fear to legitimize them.
Fortunately, many people have woken at this point, but sadly, even more people were exploited.
With fear.
And it's sad, because that's, you know, anytime people are exploited, that's sad.
Yeah, exactly.
And of course, fear also creates inflammatory stress-related physiological conditions that contribute to many of the comorbidity factors, right?
It's kind of like, you know, if you could just not be afraid, you might be much better off even if you do nothing.
And that is actually, I think that is a wise statement.
And a profound statement that you actually make yourself worse off with fear.
Yeah, exactly.
Now, and again, I greatly appreciate your time here, by the way.
I know it's late and you have a full day tomorrow.
And I want to encourage our audience, check out Dr.
Latipo's book, Transcend Fear.
As you can already tell, because we're getting into the depth of this discussion so quickly, Dr.
Latipo has a lot to offer our world.
And in fact, doctor, I'd like to ask you a question.
Maybe it's a curveball, but I think you'll like it.
Let's suppose that Ron DeSantis were to be elected President of the United States and he were to invite you to be the Surgeon General of the United States.
What would be your strategy for improving the health of Americans if you were offered such an opportunity?
Oh, yeah.
Well, yeah, I think you would make a terrific president.
If I were...
Pardon me.
If I were so...
If I were...
Fortunate enough to have an opportunity like that, I think I would go back to the basics hardcore.
People will be so much better off sticking with the basics in terms of, or should I say, getting reacquainted with the basics,
just in terms of X physical activity and you know that doesn't mean you have to do anything crazy you don't have to run every day but just you move in your body physical activity nutrition and here just again going back to the basics right vegetables fruits as little processed food as possible because it's bad for you all that processing And emotional health.
So everyone has their own path for emotional and spiritual well-being.
And some people aren't interested in even pursuing that at all, which is fine.
But it is part of health, and it's a really important part of health.
In some ways, it's a central piece.
And they're all connected, but it can make so many other things possible.
In terms of other aspects of health that can be enhanced.
So that would be a component too.
And I've described a little bit in our conversation a piece of my path to getting to just a much healthier place emotionally and spiritually.
But there are other paths for Other people.
And if you're interested in doing that and pursuing that, what are some of the options for doing that?
That would be in a real way, not in this fad ways that I think that we see sometimes, but in a way where the goal is really authentic connection with your With your connection to Source, with your connection to both God and yourself.
And I think I would be back to the basics if I were ever the Surgeon General of the country.
Well, that's really amazing to hear because I think that's exactly what America needs.
We've forgotten.
We've become disconnected from who we are so much.
We've disconnected from humanity.
And remember, one of the key messages during the entire COVID pandemic was that your immune system Is defective and doesn't work and therefore you have to essentially surrender your physiology to these other interventions which may carry risks that are not fully understood or even communicated.
But this idea that you are not whole The way that your mother brought you into this world and the way God intended that you're not good enough unless we do something to you.
I think that's a very almost treacherous kind of message.
I think we need a healing between the people and the medical system.
What do you think about that?
It is a pernicious message.
I want to say that it's not so much a statement about treatments and therapies.
They have a role, so it's not putting them down.
It's that the power of your being, which extends way beyond our medical conception, The power of your being is something that should be uplifted and celebrated.
And that to me is the biggest problem with that It's mindset or with that that that framework and imposing it on people because we are we are amazing beings and we can quantify some of it but the mysteries are they're they're just they're they're they are impossible to
fully fathom so for example even just a simple thing is As exercise and changing your diet in a way that helps someone who is overweight or obese lose weight.
Well, not only do they feel physically better, but it improves their mood and their mental outlook and it improves their immune function and their ability to prevent infectious disease and their ability to even prevent cancer.
And they're just all of these effects.
We don't know how everything connects with itself.
And that's just a sliver.
There's way more.
So I'm with you.
The approach to our being, our bodies, should be one of uplifting the power, not Describing our bodies as something that is not fully whole.
Again, it's nothing without taking away anything from treatments or therapies.
It's really that we shouldn't be bringing our bodies down.
Yeah, exactly.
I think we're on the same page.
There's absolutely a role for interventions, especially in acute medical crisis type of situations as well.
There's always a role for interventions when appropriate, but not at the expense of...
Denying the holistic approach of the person's own body or even their own unique challenges as well.
And in fact, your appointment to this position that you now serve for the state of Florida, I believe it's part...
Of a kind of a quiet revolution in medicine that is trending towards more holistic answers to these big, big questions.
And as part of this, you and I are recording this the night before the midterm elections, and Dr.
Oz is running for Senate, obviously, in Pennsylvania.
And it looks very possible that he may win that.
And I was once a guest on his show, by the way, so I've met him, and he's a very compassionate person.
And he understands nutrition.
He understands the role of prevention.
If he were in the Senate, and here you are in Florida with a fantastic future ahead of you, I have new hope!
I have new hope that our leaders have an understanding of the holistic approach to health and prevention and the human being.
Not just the human body, but the human being.
So I'm really excited.
I'm excited that you're there.
Thank you for all your contributions.
Oh, thanks, Mike.
Yeah, I hear you, Mike.
I hear you.
And yeah, I think with the right leaders who lead by example and can communicate with people in a way that is effective and resonates and people get at an intuitive level, the changes that we can make, the changes we've already made, you know, are profound.
Yes, yes, and much more to come.
Well, let me ask you a practical question.
I know we're getting close on time here.
I want to be mindful of your time, but a practical question.
So the state of Florida obviously provides health care coverage to state employees, including retired employees.
So some of the costs for the state budget involve treatments for health conditions that could possibly be improved, you know, with additional prevention measures or additional education.
Is this part of your role is to help make the state of Florida more financially sustainable through this kind of thing?
Or is that part of your equation?
I'm curious.
I don't have a direct hand in that because the Department of Health, we actually, we don't have direct involvement in things like Medicare or Medicaid administration, and we don't regulate hospital healthcare facilities in general.
So we're not, we We provide licenses to medical doctors, we provide licenses to nurses and other healthcare professionals and pharmacists, and we have a big public health program that touches on everything from pregnancy and how to help improve outcomes for pregnant women to opioid addiction and how to improve outcomes there.
We don't have necessarily a direct role in that, but I have tried to support a message of More holistic health and really, I'm trying already to have a back to the basics.
I did a 5K with one of our county health departments in Citrus County.
Sometimes they'll do a little video of when I'm exercising or I'll snap Food that my wife and I are eating on our date nights when we get a babysitter for the kids, and we'll post something about that and talk about it.
So we're trying, and I hope it's at least making a small difference, but we are trying.
Well, I think your approach, your philosophy that you've expressed here is going to really resonate with the people who, frankly, I think the people of America and certainly of Florida are probably, they've had enough of being kind of yelled at and they'd love to have discussions and open-mindedness about Gentle ways, or as they say, nudging.
How do we nudge people to improve their health decisions and health outcomes without being authoritarian about it?
We can move them in the right direction and let them discover the benefits on their own.
Yeah, yeah, I agree with you.
I think it's, you know, my wife talks about leading by example, and we were actually at Godspeak Church this weekend, and we got back last night from Los Angeles, and she talked.
And I really appreciated it, because there is people talking about, well, how do I do this?
How do I do that?
Or how do I transcend fear?
Or how do I Accomplish something else that's hard.
And she talked about leading by example.
And it's just, it's a really, it's powerful and it's something that we can all do.
And I think that that's an important component of what you're describing.
Absolutely.
I completely agree.
Okay, last question for you tonight.
And you kind of mentioned that you mentioned that part of your job is to help try to resolve addiction, opioid addiction, and to deal with the mental health aspects across the population.
This is a very serious issue in Florida and my state, Texas, where I live, and many other states across the Midwest.
And Are you aware of any specific strategies or plans with the governor or anything that you can talk about publicly on how to deal with opioid addiction or fentanyl problems with street drugs?
Yeah, Florida is definitely really leaning into the problem.
One part of it is just a supply, and there's a pretty aggressive law enforcement piece to try and tamp down the supply.
But another component of it is Is just the fact that it's such a pernicious condition.
It robs people of their ability to have more control of their physical body and their emotional being and their spiritual being, all in the name of Getting that, satisfying that urge, that overwhelming urge.
So we actually recently developed a program and launched it, and we're launching it in a dozen counties that have higher rates of opioid overdose deaths.
And the program basically Meets people where they are in their time of need when, say, they come into the emergency department or something like that with an overdose and immediately connects people with a counselor, with a social worker, with an addiction specialist, with a peer counselor.
And I feel very confident it's going to be very effective because it's that phenomenon where there's a gap between people wanting to get better and the resources and the support available to them.
That's a very common phenomenon in healthcare, unfortunately.
And it's devastating with some illnesses.
Can you imagine?
And this is the reality of the program.
Literally, this program will change whether, say, some of the people that show up in the emergency department want help and get it right then.
It literally, you know, in another universe or another time pathway, two weeks later that person could be dead.
And with their family, their kids, their husband or wife, their other loved ones, devastated from the loss of that individual.
But now in this timeline, all of a sudden, two weeks from now, they're still struggling.
But they're alive, and they have an opportunity to continue to work on and change their future.
So that's profound, right?
It affects not only their kids, but their kids' kids.
And that just reverberates basically eternally.
So we've launched that program, and I think it's going to be very effective.
And that's something that we're doing.
There's even way more that people can do, I think, but that's what we're...
And I think that, just to clarify what I mean, Even the root of the condition, what's underlying the propensity to addiction.
And I think eventually we will be there.
Science is not there yet, but I think we will be there one day.
But for where we are now, it's really using, flexing some strong muscles and hopefully we'll have great results and other states will pick it up.
Well, that's really exciting.
And like you said, we hope that that's something that succeeds and can be modeled by other states because this is something that is devastating to many states across America.
But overall, Dr.
Latipo, I'm thrilled that you're there.
Our audience is absolutely going to be thrilled to hear this interview.
And I want to remind them about your book again.
It's called Transcend Fear, A Blueprint for Mindful Leadership in Public Health.
And they can get that right now on Barnes& Noble or Amazon or elsewhere.
And I just want to thank you, Dr.
Latipo.
I know it's late.
I know your schedule's intense.
But thank you for taking the time.
You're really an extraordinary individual.
We need more people like you in our system, and we will all benefit.
Thank you very much, Mike.
Thank you again for having me on and being able to share time and words with your audience.
Thank you.
Thanks, Mike.
We are honored to have you on, and thank you so much.
Just stand by for one second after this to let your audio finish synchronizing.
And let me tell people, folks, feel free to repost this interview anywhere you'd like.
Because we want the truth to get out.
We want to share this powerful message.
I mean, folks, this is the Surgeon General of Florida that we just heard from.
He's extraordinary.
We need more people like this in our system, and we will all share the benefits.
Society as a whole will benefit.
So thank you all.
I'm Mike Adams, the founder of BrightTown.com.
Thank you for listening.
God bless you, and take care.
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